Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1404

 1352 PALESTINE

Th« length of telegraph lines is 2,995 miles and of wire 7,845 miles ; of telephoue lines, 265, and of telephone wire, 3410 miles. Number of tele- phone exchanges, 32 ; number of offices, 1,551.

High Commissioner.— Sir P. Z. Cox, K.B.E., K. C.S.I., K.C.M.G. Commander in Charge of British Forces. — Lt. -General Sir J. A. L. Haldane, K.C.B., D.S.O.

Books of Reference.

Draft "Mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine. (Cmd. 1,176.) Miscellaneous No. 3: (1921).

Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia. (Cmd. 1,061.) Issued by the India. Office, 1920.

Sell (G. L.), Amurath to Amurath.

Bevan (Edwyn), The Land of the Two Rivers. London, 1917.

Buckley (A. B.), Mesopotamia as a country for future development. Cairo, 1919.

Hall (L. J.), The Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia. London, 1921.

Hevtitt (Sir John P.), Report for the Army Council on Mesopotamia. London, 1819.

Maxwell (Donald), A Dweller in Mesopotamia. London, 1921.

Parfit{3. T.), Marvellous Mesopotamia. London, 1920.

Soane (E. B.), To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Disguise. London, 1912.

Vowlei (Alfred), Wanderings with a Camera in Mesopotamia. London, 1920.

PALESTINE.

The natural and historic boundaries of Palestine run from the desert on the east, along the slopes of Mount Hermon over to the Litani on the west, where the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon first break into a series of elevated plateaux, and thence over to the coast. In the south, the boundary was formed by the Gulf of Akaba and the Desert of Sinai.

According to the Anglo-French Agreement of December 3, 1920, the northern frontier, between Palestine and Syria, begins at Ras Nakura, along the watershed between the Farah, Kurn, and Kerbera Wadis on the south, and Duhleh-el-Ayon and Zerka Wadis on the north, then follows the watershed between the Litany and the Jordan, as far north as Metullah, then turns eastward, leaving Banias in Palestine, then passes down the Wadi Jeraba to the Sea of Galilee, crosses the Sea of Galilee, and runs to the south of the Yarmuk.

Government. — Under Turkish rule, Palestine was spread over three administrative regions ; part was in the Vilayet of Beyrut, part in the Independent Sanjak of Jerusalem, and part in the Vilayet of Damascus.

In 1917 the country was conquered by British forces who were in oceupa tion until July 1, 1920. The whole country has been divided into seven districts, viz., Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Becrsheba, Samaria (Nablus), Phoenicia (Haifa), Galilee (Nazareth).

High Commissioner. — Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert L. Samuel, P.O., Q.B.E. (Appointed July 1, 1920).

On the 25th April, 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers at San Remo decided to give a Mandate for Palestine to Great Britain. To be embodied in the Mandate was the object of establishing there a National Home for the Jewish People, according to the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, which has been embodied in the Peace Treaty with Turkey. The Balfour declaration was in these terms : — ' His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the